Montreal Canadiens defenseman P.K. Subban received his fair share of boos when he touched the puck when tonight’s game against the Boston Bruins started, but he’ll almost certainly hear more in future meetings. He didn’t exactly earn bonus points for “turtling” after this elbow on David Krejci, either. The question is: will a call from Brendan Shanahan be in his near future?

Near the end of the first period of the Devils/Habs game in Montreal, Erik Cole hit rookie defenseman Adam Larsson with a hit to the head. Cole was penalized two minutes for an illegal hit to the head, while Larsson headed back to the locker room to recover from the hit. Thankfully, he was able to return to action in the second period.

It certainly looks like Cole caught the vulnerable Larsson with an elbow as he tried to curl around the net. As the announcers mentioned, this was one of those “drive-by” hits that Brendan Shanahan and Rob Blake have been watching closely.

Was the head the principle point of contact? Absolutely. Was the player in a vulnerable position? Check. But Larsson was also bending down as he reached for the puck. Does that mean that Larsson changed the position of his head enough for Cole to escape punishment?

We through this out to the readers: Should Erik Cole be suspended by the NHL for this hit on Adam Larsson? The comment section awaits.

There was an ugly scene in St. Louis tonight as Blues forward Chris Stewart shoved Red Wings defenseman Niklas Kronwall into the boards in the middle of the first period. It was one of those hits that Stewart could have called from the locker room and just said something like, “Hi Brendan, take a look at your schedule and let me know when we should schedule my hearing.”

The bodycheck was one of those hits that seemingly covered everything that the league is trying to get out of the league. It was a shove from directly behind when Kronwall was in a vulnerable place on the ice. The defenseman lost his balance after the shove, went head-first into the boards, and lay motionless on the ice as his teammates went after Stewart for the hit. After the Wings’ medical staff attended to Kronwall on the ice, they had to help him off the playing surface and into the locker room.

Meanwhile, Stewart was given a five-minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct. If we were betting men here at PHT (no comment), we’d say the in-game penalties are the least of Stewart’s worries.

Take a look at the shot and let us know what you think? There’s no question that it’s a dirty hit in a dangerous place on the ice—is it suspension worthy? If you were wielding the Shanahammer, how many games would you give Stewart?

Brendan Shanahan is going to be a busy disciplinarian this weekend. As if he didn’t have enough questionable calls to wade through on his Halloween weekend, Rangers forward Wojtek Wolski caught Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson in the head with an elbow away from the play. Every single one of these plays is debatable in their own way, but Wolski looked like he wanted to star in a league video entitled: “What Not To Do.”

Here are the moving pictures for your review:

Wolski was given a two-minute minor for an illegal check to the head. From the Senators stand point, they lost their captain who was visibly injured on the play—and never returned to the game. For their part, the Sens responded with a goal power play goal 40 seconds later and tied the game with less than three minute remaining in the 3rd.

Even though they were able to escape Madison Square Garden with a 5-4 shootout victory, the long-term damage for the Sens is much more important than an average game in October (Fittingly, Wolski hit the post in shootout to give Ottawa the victory). We’ll keep you updated with any details on Alfredsson’s injury, as well as any possible supplementary discipline for Wolski.

Update (7:35 EST): Wojtek Wolski had this to say after the game: “I watched the replay and it doesn’t look like I got him on the head at all. I got him on the side. I thought it was a clean hit.”